I’d like feedback on the possibility of building a wiki specifically to cover individual fruit trees very similar to what Tatiana built for tomatobase. See this page and look at the veggies on the left side menu. Tatiana's TOMATObase - Heritage Tomatoes - Tatiana's TOMATOBase Please look at several individual variety pages to see an example of what can be done. Tatiana has good coverage for tomatoes. As an example, see Absinthe tomato where she covers history, sources, and has pictures of sample fruit.
How would you feel about making a similar database covering pears, apples, persimmons, brambles, etc?
How is the pear database coming along? Fruit databases are complicated. Duplicate information , misinformation, and the absence of information are the problems.
My vote would be top 10. Instead of reading about a variety from 1536 that only grows in a monastery in Kazakhstan… that make excellent fruit cakes or brandy…
How about a top 10 list of available varieties of each…
Who grows more than 10 varieties that didnt wish that they only grew their top 10 favorites? top 5?
I cant grow more than 10 varieties of tomatoes…nor garlic… nor corn.
5 is much easier…nicer and rewarding.
I am very bad at picking things from Amazon with the best and most reviews… i will often pass on things with very few reviews.
I bet that even Clark could narrow his list of pears down to 10… i would value that opinion.
When i go to a mexican restaurant and the menu is 5 pages long… i struggle to decide and often have buyers remorse. I am much happier when i go to the mexican restaurant that has its menu on one side of the page and they make those dishes very well…instead of trying to make 100 dishes edible.
There are 7500 varieties of apples in the world… do you want to grow number 794 on the list? or number 1,2 and 3?
FOMO- Fear of Missing Out… gets me every time on this group.
Clark has me digging holes for more Pears this year. More holes for Persimmons to be dug this Fall.
Top 10? or full Encyclopedia of Cultivars of Fruit grown on Planet Earth?
Both encyclopedic and more selective approaches can be fun and useful. The drawback with Top 10 lists is always top ten for who, where, and what purpose? What if you happen to be a monastic brandy aficianado in Kazakhstan? Might seem unlikely, but everybody’s situation is distinctive and unusual in its own way, and having a resource that helps you find the weird cool stuff that fits your weird cool thing can be a great help.
A person after my own heart… if anyone cares to read this link for their special interests… and curiousities…it is beyond any modern wiki for me. I have spent countless hours reading and will likely spend more.
Note… there is more than you will ever want to know or care to know about most every fruit pre-1950 in the US. Its intense. Its beyond intense.
These guys from the old days were much much more into things than us keyboarders.
So in order to find my apple that makes a a fine Cyser i would have to read 7500 varieties in a general wiki to find one that im interested in… what i was saying is that a better ‘wiki’ would have the top 10 Cyser apples…
I got my idea from the old magazines i used to read… they always had a top 10 destinations, or top 10 cities to live in… or top 10 ways to lose 10lbs…
My Amazon search usually goes like this… (most popular)… then i lose interest on about #5 or so.
My restaurants usually go like this- "what do you recommend’ ’ whats your best lager’ … ive never asked what is the fourth best thing you have to offer.
When im making my Sugo i reach for a can of San Marzanos… because i read that they are the best canned tomatoes in the world…turns out i think so too. My mom canned every tomato we grew… even if they werent for ‘canning’…god love her heart we ate every jar.
When i want pear brandy… dont need a wiki… whoever figured this out has my attention.
kris, you are getting lost in the forest from staring at all the trees. If you look at Tatiana’s tomato wiki, you will see where she divided according to specific types. She has a link for all red tomatoes, all pink tomatoes, all potato leaf tomatoes, etc. It would be easy as cyser to build a link listing all cyser apples so you would only have to search maybe 100 varieties instead of the entire list of 7500.
I went to Tatiana’s page… I typed in Fried Green Tomatoes…
The only result was Granny Smith F1… which listed it was bred for the purpose of Fried Green Tomatoes…
BullCrap! My grandma never grew any Granny Smith F1 tomatoes and her fried green tomatoes were the best in the world…
So that site is seriously lacking.
I typed in Tomato Sandwich…
That led me to Akers WV… which makes a perfect tomato sandwich it says.
Bullcrap! My mom made the best tomato sandwiches in the world from Mr Stripey.
So I may be lost in the forest for sure… no doubt about that… but there is more information needed on any kind of food related ‘wiki’ or information site.
A good information source needs a comment section… just like youtube videos have comments turned on. NOT like FB groups!
So i have changed my vote… i dont want a boring wiki. I want a comment driven discussion about the best tomato for fried green tomatoes… or best monastic kazakhstanian pear.
Wait…thats what we do here. Hourly/Daily/Weekly.
This forum is better than wiki… i think.
I will read it when you are done… but i want more… this forum gives more.
kris, if I came here and started lecturing you about how good Chester blackberries are and how they outshine all the other blackberries ever bred, what would you say to me?
That is how I feel when you tell me Mr. Stripey is a really good tomato. It is just like Chester blackberry to you.
Blackberries were the creation of the devil. I’ve been battling them from overrunning my property for over half a century. Damn Luther Burbank for bringing the Himalayan blackberry to North America.
I’ve been battling them from overrunning my property for over half a century. Damn Luther Burbank for bringing the Himalayan blackberry to North America.